The WGC-HSBC Champions is a professional golf tournament, held annually in China. Inaugurated in 2005, the first seven editions were played at the Sheshan Golf Club in Shanghai, then moved to the Mission Hills Golf Club in Shenzhen for a single year in 2012. It returned to Sheshan Golf Club in 2013. Since 2009, it has been a World Golf Championships event. Played in November, it is the fourth tournament on the WGC calendar along with the WGC-Dell Match Play, the WGC-Mexico Championship, and the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational events, all in North America. The field consists primarily of players who have won the top rated tournaments since the previous WGC-HSBC tournament, supplemented by other leading players in the world rankings and money lists of the major tours. The WGC-HSBC Champions has the highest prize money in East Asia. Originally in 2005, it was US$5 million, and grew to US$7 million when it got WGC status in 2009, US$8.5 million in 2013 and as of 2019, the prize money is US$10.25 million. Only the CIMB Classic, CJ Cup, Zozo Championship and BMW Masters have had similar purses in the region.
Field
2005–2008
Originally, the event was sanctioned by four —the European, the Asian, and Sunshine Tours and the PGA Tour of Australasia— of the six constituent tours of International Federation of PGA Tours at that time. Invitations were issued to all players placed amongst the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Also invited were players who had, during the calendar year preceding the event, captured at least one tournament title on a sanctioning tour, or had finished the preceding season amongst the top twenty in the European Tour'sRace to Dubai or amongst the top five in the Order of Merit standings of any of the other three sanctioning tours. Players who had finished first in the Order of Merit standings in any of three developmental tours—the Von Nida and Challenge Tours and the winter swing of the Sunshine Tour—were also invited. Finally, starting berths were also reserved for eight Chinese amateur and professional players to be selected by tournament organizers and sponsors, whether by qualifying tournament or not.
WGC event 2009
The event became a World Golf Championship in 2009 on the European Tour. The field consists primarily of winners of the most important tournaments around the world since the previous WGC-HSBC Champions tournament. Each of the six member tours are allocated a certain number of tournaments from their tour, although these tournament must meet a minimum entry requirement. Co-sanctioned tournaments are assigned to one tour only. The tournaments are ranked using the Official World Golf Ranking strength of field. Tournaments must have a minimum event ranking of 40. The ranking is based on the previous year's event ranking so that the list of qualifying events can be determined in advance. New events can be included if they are expected to have an event ranking of at least 40. Further players gain entry through their position in the current seasons Order of Merit. Six players from China are selected while any player ranked in the world top 50 is also given an entry. If the field size is less than 78, further entries are selected from winners of additional tournaments not already considered, players ranked outside the world top 50, and the players further down the Order of Merit lists. The tournament was the second event of the European Tour Final Series from 2013 to 2015.
Current qualifications
The current qualification categories are as follows:
Top 2 available players from the final Sunshine Tour Order of Merit
Six players from China
Alternates
PGA Tour status
From 2010 to 2012 this was an unofficial money event on the PGA Tour. This meant that money won did not count towards the PGA Tour money list. However, wins during this period counted as official PGA Tour wins if the player was a member of the tour, which only Ian Poulter was. Since 2013, the WGC-HSBC Champions has been an official PGA Tour event. The winner receives a three-year PGA Tour exemption.
